And the Beast Rears Its Ugly Head
by El Penguino
Summary: Charlie wanders off into the jungle and discovers one of the island's most mysterious secrets; the identity of the Black Smoke Monster's cousin


Charlie was out wandering out in the middle of the jungle for no particular reason. The truth was he didn't even know why his legs were carrying him through the lush foliage, but he went without objection, stopping only to drink and to poke dead things with sticks; a recent hobby of his. He marched onward until it was nightfall and then he realized he was screwed. He had no idea where he had come from and even if he did there was no way to make it back to the beach. That's when he started to hear the whispers at first he couldn't make them out, but then he understood. So the jungle was now filled with whispers of, "Come on Charlie, Candy Mountain Charlie. Were on a magical bridge Charlie." After twenty minutes straight of hearing nothing but this he began to lose his mind.

"Leave me the bloody hell alone! Stop it with this Candy Mountain rubbish!" he shrieked to the whispers hoping they would stop, but this brought them to a shout.

"Come on Charlie, Candy Mountain Charlie! We're on a magical bridge Charlie!" 

"ENOUGH!" screamed Charlie.

The whispers, or to be exact now shouts, wouldn't let up, so Charlie did the one thing that made sense to him, he fell asleep.

Meanwhile

Claire sat inside her tent impatiently for Charlie to return to her tent while trying to sing Aaron the lullaby Charlie usually sang; however this didn't seem to work. That's when Claire saw Sawyer walk by.

"Sawyer, can you help me? Charlie's not here, I need to get Aaron to sleep and he seems to respond to your redneck accent real well."

"Whoa there Mamacita, you did not just call me a redneck." said Sawyer in offense.

"No, I didn't I called your accent a redneck." she retorted smugly

"I s'pose you're right. What do you want me to read to him?"

Meanwhile

When Charlie woke up he no longer was in the jungle, but tied up to a chair in a random house. At first he thought the entire time he was on the island maybe he was in the looney bin imaging all this random crap, until Ben entered the room.

"Good evening Charlie." he said in his almost omniscient creeper voice.

Ben stood there waiting for some sarcastic remark from Charlie, which was something he learned Charlie liked to do.

"What the bloody hell do you want, Ben?"

"I just wanted to know why you went on our side of the jungle."

"There are sides to the jungle now? No one tells me anything.."

"I'm afraid for your offense we will have to brainwash you now, Charlie. I am so sorry."

Charlie was rolled into a very dark room in the house where there was nothing but a computer, a television, and surround sound.

"Oooh can I check my email?" asked Charlie.

"I'm afraid not until after your brainwashing."

"Brainwash-away."

Charlie soon regretted saying this and became uneasy when there were two unicorns approaching a sleeping unicorn in a meadow. He cringed at their words, "Come on Charlie, Candy mountain Charlie." with that he screamed "Nooooooo!" as the door to the room was closed.

The next morning Claire woke up and found Charlie still wasn't in their tent. She immediately began to search the beach with Aaron in tow. She checked the tree-line, the laundry place, and she even checked his sulking place. As she was about to return to her tent, Jack conveniently exited his.

"Good morning Claire."

"Good morning Jack, have you seen Charlie? He didn't get back last night." 

"No I haven't, but if he's not back by noon we'll put together a search-team."

"Thank you Jack." she said with an appreciative smile on her face and returned to her tent.

Finally at who knows what time in the morning the computer was shut off and Charlie sat there drooling and weaving his head about. He was pushed into another room where he was strapped down to a bed with the leather straps. He looked up to the ceiling moving his now heavily dilated eyes around the room to inspect his surroundings. Once satisfied he fell asleep, not capable of keeping his eyes open.

Meanwhile

"Ok, Charlie is missing, again and we need to find him. He's prone to wander aimlessly in the jungle, so we'll split up in groups." Jack addressed the search-team.

"Doc, how do we know he didn't just wander off for a fix?" asked Sawyer.

"Because he'd be back by now and he doesn't do drugs anymore."

"Hallelujah!" yelled Sawyer sarcastically. 

With that the large group broke off into smaller groups to find their missing comrade.

Charlie awoke to the smell of pancakes and bacon being brought into his room. He tried to sit up, but with all the excitement he forgot he was restrained. Ben set the tray on the nightstand and began to undo the restraints.

"I assume you won't try to run away, seeing as you have pancakes and bacon." said Ben.

Charlie tried to speak, but when no words came out of his mouth he just shook his head.

"Being mute is a temporary side effect from your procedure. You will regain your speech shortly." Ben informed Charlie as he finished the last restraint. "If you promise you will be good I'll let you check your e-mail."

Charlie nodded his head in enthusiasm as he sat up and waited impatiently for his breakfast to be given to him. Once he finally received it he ate it so quickly you'd think he hadn't eaten for years.

"You sure ate that fast Charlie. Do you feel up to walking?"

"Y-y-yes I do." replied Charlie.

"Ok, then put your plate in the kitchen."

"Ok.

"Ben, can I play your piano!" yelled Charlie

"Sure, no one has used that for ages."

Once Charlie placed his plate in the kitchen he approached the piano as if it were their first date; shy at first, but he then began caress the keys and shortly a soft, sweet melody filled the house. Charlie played until he felt he wouldn't be able to move his fingers again. It was then Charlie learned he would be let go. As he was escorted to The Others' tree-line he heard a rustling from the bushes and the only thought that came to his mind was the _Wizard of Oz_ 'Lions and Tigers and Bears oh my!' The rustling ceased causing a false sense of security. That was when he saw it; another island monster.

Meanwhile

"Charlie!" yelled Sawyer as he searched. "Get the hell over here so I can go back and read my new book!"

That was when Sawyer heard a scream from behind a bush. He went over to investigate and found Charlie cowering behind a tree.

"Charlie get over here now!" he yelled.

"Keep your voice down, or it'll hear you." whispered Charlie.

"What is it?" asked Sawyer as he kneeled next to Charlie.

Charlie pointed to the monster, causing a loud snort from Sawyer, which then became hysterical laughter.

"Sawyer, shut it! It's going to kill us!"

"Hey Chuckie, did you ever watch Sesame Street? All you'd have to worry about would be if you were a cookie."

"ARRRRGGH! Did you bring me a cookie!" shrieked the Cookie Monster.

"Ummm… no." replied Charlie.

"A most unwise choice! I will hold you ransom for 50 cookies HAHAHA!" cackled the Cookie Monster.

"Damnit! I was really hoping to read my new book!"

"Tough shit, you're coming with me!"

Meanwhile Charlie was trying to escape during the argument, but failed miserably.

"You get back here, or I'll call my cousin, the Black Smoke Monster!"

"Ok, I'm sorry Mr. Cookie Monster, but don't you need someone to deliver the ransom note? You'd get many more cookies with Sawyer than you would with me." haggled Charlie.

This caused a bout of rage from Sawyer, "Don't you dare sell me short, or so help me God, I will ream your ass when I get back!"

Charlie looked terrified momentarily, but then went back to haggling due to his short attention span. "So, do we have a deal?" asked Charlie.

"Yes, let me write the note right now." said the Cookie Monster as he pulled out a piece of paper and a crayon. He scribbled on the paper and handed it to Charlie. "Give this to your leader and meet me back here at this clearing in two days."

"Ok." said Charlie as he took the note and sprinted towards the beach.

"You're dead to me! You're even more dead to me than Locke's father and I enjoyed killing him!" shrieked Sawyer as he was led away.

To Be Continued….


End file.
